The first Friday of Camp 1 is shatteringly exhausting though a fabulous reunion of old friends and a meeting of wonderful new colleagues amongst the Sports staff. What a fantastic group of young people and they all do their job so energetically with care and compassion for all around them. What a huge team of servisors there is. 12 years ago we probably had at least half this number! We now have 163 kids in camp 1 plus 20 for the Junior Programm, a far cry from 2006 when we had 60 in total.
I don' know how many hours of meetings we had, but trying to translate and concentrate on what is being said at the speed of a TGV racing through the French countryside, is exceedingly tiring and certainly makes you realise you are back at work!
Saturday afternoon, and all my team of language teachers have arrived. What a joy to see friends returning year after year and to meet new members of our extraordinary team of talented and devoted teachers, plus of course Tom our fabulous assistant. Suddenly the team of workers for the camp has doubled and we sit down for our first meal together, without the children at this stage. It is a truly amazing experience, even the 12 th time round! We have people from New Zealand (3 in our language team), Georgia, Switzerland of course, Canada, America, Spain, Germany, England, Wales , Ireland and France.
Imagine waking up to this view for a month. It makes even the hardest days worthwhile. The Maloja Snake, the long wispy cloud hangs down in the valley whilst silver- lined white puffy clouds cling to the mountain peaks.
Heavenly at any time of day. I am lucky enough to have a room with a door to the balcony, with this spectacular view as the sun sets over this unbelievably beautiful valley.
The first week was hectic, to say the least. 17 classes in several buildings on several floors at an altitude of 1700 metres certainly takes it out of you when you are trying to visit as many as possible in 3 hours. Generally very good classes, but of course always some testing children, some parents with conflicting ideas regarding the level and sometimes about the behaviour of their little angels, road drilling outside classrooms making life troublesome, sometimes impossible for teachers , and marvelous weather causing problems because with closed windows due to the noise, the kids and teachers roasted! However, all in all, we were really happy and by day three I treated myself to an afternoon walk to one of my favourite tea spots, next door to the camping ground in Madulain. It was great to join Rene, Sandy, Lisa and Tine for a walkand to enjoy this super colourful and friendly restaurant.
The weekend was extremely necessary to recharge batteries and to visit both known and new areas of this lovely area.
Saturday was spent with friends Antoinette and Claude. Every time I use my Ipad I thank Antoinette for her perfect farewell gift from academia just over one year ago. I have so enjoyed writing my blog and reminiscing about my previous trips whenever I get a spare moment to look back over my blogs.
We took the little red train up the valley to the pretty little town of Lavin, a relatively unknown town and yet tremendously well kept, with many very old typical Engadine houses with colourful gardens and breathtaking views along the valley. A garden not to be missed was the nursery which supplies many of the local hotels and restaurants with flowers. Situated at the bottom of the town, next to the milky- coloured , fast flowing River Inn, it has the most fabulous flower and vegetable beds. It was as if we had arrived in paradise!
Fantastic views in all directions on this perfect day. Talk about green and lush! It was incredible. I guess the short but substantial evening downpours over the past days have been perfect for the meadows and flowers.
I could just imagine sitting at the riverside with a wine in the evenings. What bliss!
Just an hour away upstream, after a walk along the river and through forests, we arrived at yet another picturesque town, Susch. This is one of my favourite lesser known towns and one of the first I visited 12 years ago. Not much has changed and after all these years my favourite sgraffiti and paintings were still there. This time I had the chance to enjoy them with Antoinette and her hubby.
Whether you are admiring major artworks covering the entire side of a house or whether your attention is drawn to cute and quirky sgraffiti, you can not fail to be captivated. Of course, the window boxes defy description. I still think that there must be weekly classes in schools to learn the art of window box gardening and wood stacking!
As in Saas Fee we truly enjoyed the company of a vast assortment of insects and butterflies throughout the day. This butterfly was very beautiful and willing to stay still for a while.
Almost at the end of a 20000 step walk to Zernez, we gazed back at the valley we had just passed through. Just gorgeous!
Before reaching the town, in the middle of nowhere we came across this extraordinary book cupboard, the wooden structure which looks a bit like a giant bird house. Imagine finding information about the library in a spot like this, plus finding about 20 books in there for people to take. Incredible.
It had been a fantastic walk, and although weary, I summoned up the energy to dance the night away at the Dorf Fest. Great evening with brilliant music. Can't wait for another day's walk tomorrow.
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